Another Lightning Offensive Onslaught too Much for Reeling Devils

Graphic Credit: Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports

Following a frustrating start to December, the Bolts built on a dominant win in Montreal with an 8-4 victory over the New jersey Devils on Thursday night. The Devils tried to rally late, but the explosive offense of the Lighting was too much to overcome.

Nick Paul got the Bolts, who lead the NHL in first period goal differential, off to a fast start once again as he capitalized on a turnover by New Jersey in their own end. He snapped home a wrister from the between the circles on a great dish from Sabourin to make it 1-0 at 2:57 in the first. For Nick, it was a milestone goal as it marked his 100^th tally in the NHL. Less than a minute later, the red-hot Darren Raddysh slapped one past Jacob Markstrom on a great feed from Nikita Kucherov. Raddysh, coming off a two goal game in Montreal picked up right where he left off and put the Tampa up 2-0 early. The lone bright spot for the Devils in the first was on an ankle breaking spin-o-rama by Luke Hughes, who beat Jonas Johansson stick side to make it 2-1 Tampa at the 7-minute mark. However, any momentum gained by the Devils was short lived when Pontus Homberg beat Markstrom 5 hole with a backhand shot from the right circle less than a minute later. That was all for Markstrom as he was pulled following the third Lightning goal and Jake Allen took over between the pipes for Jersey. He wouldn’t fare much better as Jake Guentzel scored his 15^th goal of the season on a power play tally when Simon Nemec took a minor for hooking Holmberg late in the period. The first period was capped off by Sabourin taking a boarding call for a hit on Hughes which resulted in a big-time tilt with Brendon Dillon. Sabourin came out ready to go as he jackhammered left hand after left hand and all Dillon could do was eventually take him to the ice.

New Jersey, who are 1-6-0 in their last 7 games, tried to set a physical tone in this game, but the offense of the Lightning was running on all cylinders and at 6:19 of the second period, Oliver Bjorkstrand buried a wrist shot from Guentzel and Point to beat Allen down low and made it 5-1 Lighting. At 12:18 of the period, Yanni Gourde was called for tripping Connor Brown and the Devils beat the best penalty kill in the NHL to make it 5-2. Jesper Bratt took a great pass from Nemec and beat Johanson on a break away. As was the tone of the night, the Bolts came back and squashed any hope of momentum for Jersey as a surging Brandon Hagel buried his team leading 18^th goal of the season on a beauty of a cross-ice pass from Kucherov at 16:35 of the middle frame. The Lighting looked once again like the team that had a very impressive November through the first two and it seemed as if Jersey had no answers.

After being dominated by the Lighting for the first two periods, the Devils showed some pushback in the third as they had Tampa running around a bit in their own zone to start the final 20 minutes. Angus Crookshank scored his first goal of the season on a great backdoor feed by Colton White at 3:13 of the third. However, the theme of the night held true, and Brayden Point answered back at 7:55 on a yet another fantastic feed from Kucherov from the goal line and the Lighting were up 7-3. New Jersey would score one more time at 15:28 on a wrist shot from Paul Kotter, set up by Glass and Hughes to make it 7-4 but once again, less than a minute later, Bjorkstrand would bury his second of the night on the power play. It was assisted by Geuentzel and Kucherov, giving the reigning Ted Lindsay award winner a 4-point night.

For the Lighting, this was another example of how the off-season chatter about the impending demise of the franchise was greatly exaggerated as the young depth was impactful in all three zones and the team saw a goal from each of its four lines. After a couple of days off in the Big Apple, the Lighting will look to get back to business against the New York Islanders on Saturday and avenge a 2-0 shut out back on December 6^th.

3 Stars of the Game

1 - Brayden Point (1 G, 1 A)

2 – Nikita Kucherov (0 G, 4 A)

3 – Brandon Hagel (1 G, 1 A)